A story, then the advice!

Blog #3 My very strange, very long, very true story about Fatima.


Ya ever think, wow, that person is such a fruit cake!
Ya ever wonder why, or how they came to be that way?

1.
Molly went to Bennett School in Taunton for elementary school. They had a 'book slip' program. A motivational program to get kids to read.

Every time the student read a book, they would fill out a book slip. It included the name of the book, author, date, student's name, and a synopsis of the book. These slips were turned in and a parent volunteer would log them and file them. On each classroom door was a poster tracking the class's progress. The kid's names down the left side of the poster and a grid of boxes that got checked off for every book they read.

Molly was a big reader, and she always had a ton of checks next to her name. When she wrote the 'synopsis' of the book, the slip was filled, front and back. It was kinda funny.


2.
When Sid and I got married, we living in a condo in Taunton. We were in the market for our first house. In the real estate book we saw: 5 acres of land, colonial to be built, $199,000.00

We went to look at it. The 5 acres, located on South Walker St, had the three mile river as the back boundary line. on the other side of the river was the bird sanctuary. It was beautiful! We loved it! We went to the realtor's office and signed a purchase and sale, we thought 'everyone' signed this document. As we offered the asking price, we assumed that it was a done deal. When the realtor called and said the deal was off, we said, "But we have a P&S??" He said, "Oh... the seller never signed it."

Boy did we feel stupid!! We bought the cape on Misty Lane shortly after that.

3.
Four years later, about nine years ago, I was driving by that property on South Walker St. A house was being built and woman was standing out in front of it. I stopped and asked if that was her house. She said yes and I told her the story of how Sid and I thought we were buying that property and how it didn't work out for us. She was amazed and said she was doing a video diary of the construction and immediately whipped out her video camera and started rolling. (OH my.) She says, tell your story! So, I nervously tell the story again. After that weirdness was over, she starts venting! Really complaining about her husband, he keeps changing things so the house is much bigger than planned, and he keeps upgrading everything... on and on she goes! He's always at work at the restaurant (he's a Benjamin), and I have to be here to take care of everything. I'm thinking, How can I get the heck outta here!! And why is this woman venting her, very personal, complaints to a stranger that just popped in??
Isn't this stuff you talk to your mom, sister, or close friend about?
I'm polite and listen, even though I'm secretly planning my escape.

I concluded in my 30 minutes with her that she was quite the space shot, a real fruit cake!

4.
I'm currently taking a geography class. I won a grant that's providing me with a full ride to complete my bachelors degree! (I'm so excited) This class meets on Monday and Wednesday nights. We have a test every week and afterwards we exchange tests and correct them together. Fatima sits next to me, we exchange tests. She's very nice, (though a little flaky) but so far, where I've gotten a 104 and 102 on my tests, Fatima's got a 64 and a 70 on hers. So, last Wednesday I get to school, I park my car and there's Fatima, she waits for me.
I walk with her and say, "Hey, ya know maybe I can explain to you how I take notes, and how I decide what to study." She says, "Oh yes, yes, please Stacy, oh my friend Stacy, tell me, tell me how you do it."

I tell her, "When he says, I need you to know, or I want you to know..... Put a star next to what he wants you to know. That material will most likely be on the test." She speaks fast and is kinda nervous, and when I explain the notes and stuff, she completely doesn't seem to get it and keeps asking weird questions.

"So, you highlight everything when you get home??"

"No, I just put a star next to the material that he gives us after he says I need you to know.... and that's what I study"

"So you go home and highlight everything?"

"No, I just put a star next to the material that he gives us after he says I need you to know.... and that's what I study."

This goes on in various combinations of ridiculousness before I just agree and quiet her down. She's kinda flaky a real fruit cake!
But she's nice and for some reason, I do want to help her.

After an hour of class, we have a 15 minute break, I overheard a woman in the back say she works at Parker Middle School in Taunton. I ask her if she know's Molly McGuire. It turns out she wasn't working there when Molly was there, but Fatima says, "Hmmmm. I know that name."

"Molly McGuire, Molly McGuire, how do I know that name? Where did she go to school for elementary?"

"Bennett School in Taunton."

"Molly McGuire!! Stacy, I was the parent in charge of book slips!! Molly always had the most of the whole school and she practically wrote a book on every one! Oh my God, it's amazing that we end up in the same class together!!!"

"Wow, I agree, that's quite a coincidence!"

Then she says, "Molly would know my son, he was in the same grade as her there. John Benjamin."

Hmmm. I think. Benjamin. I ask, thinking this can not be that same fruity woman.............
I say, "Did you build a house on South Walker St?"

"YES! how do you know?"

"My husband and I tried to buy that property. But the seller wouldn't sell it to us."

"YOU THE WOMAN ON MY VIDEO DIARY!!"

Oh my gosh! I couldn't believe that this fruity woman I've tried to befriend, and help out is the same fruity woman that I encountered so many years ago!! It was definitely a strange coincidence!! And that she worked with Molly's book slips too.


On my way home from school my friend Patti Jo calls. So I tell her my very strange story about Fatima.

She TOPS my very strange story about Fatima with her own very strange story about Fatima.

Seems Patti's sister Cheryl is the same age as Fatima. So they knew Fatima and her family though the school years.
When Fatima was a teenager the family decided to take a vacation to Florida. When the trip got closer, it turned out that Fatima had a tournament of some sort, and she had to stay back in Taunton. Her mom, dad and brothers and sisters went.
They got in a car accident in Florida, and they all died.

What a terrible thing. And here's Fatima, doing pretty good I'd say after going through such a horrendous personal tragedy. And when people like me meet her, and think, what a fruit cake, maybe we should also think, I bet there's a reason.

There's a reason she's nervous, there's a reason she vents and complains to who she can.
She doesn't have a mom or a sister or a brother to talk to.

I'm glad I befriended my fruity friend Fatima, I'm glad I decided to help her with her studying. Our lives have crossed in such a crazy way.

It's good to be nice to people, ya never know what a person's story might be.